Ch.405Chapter 405 – Meanwhile, in the Kingdom (1)

# Late at Night, Kingdom of Mikea

Count Metis sat in the very same place where once an adventurer had held a meeting with the Magic Tower and several religious orders.

The attendees were an impressive and diverse group.

The Masters of the Green and Purple Towers, a Saint from the Hati Order, a Holy Knight from the Jeolei Order, a princess of a nation along with her knight escorts and servants.

Representatives or proxies from the Alchemist Association, Adventurer’s Guild, and Merchant Union.

A commoner woman in somewhat worn clothing that seemed out of place.

And lastly, a woman who had once been renowned as a Saint of the Emiris Order, attending in place of Diana who was originally supposed to be present.

“T-that concludes my testimony…”

The commoner woman had just finished speaking, and she was bowing her head, taking deep breaths as if overwhelmed by the presence of such distinguished faces she would never normally encounter.

The princess, seemingly wanting to calm the woman, looked toward the Saint who stood near her, and the Saint nodded before turning to the woman.

“You’ve done well, Anna. I’ll take over from here, so just stay quiet now.”

“Th-thank you, Lady Kara…”

Anna sat down and caught her breath at Kara’s words.

Princess Liriel, taking in the sight of the woman who was clearly tense from having to speak before high-ranking foreign dignitaries she would never normally meet, opened her mouth in a quiet voice.

“The situation in the New Kingdom is truly deplorable.”

“To be honest, if we had suddenly heard such claims, no one would have believed them.”

The princess nodded at her attendant’s words.

Unfortunately, she had already determined that those claims were likely close to the truth.

“There was mention of this from the Jeolei Order, wasn’t there? The testimony about Emiris Order’s holy knights trying to take away Jeolei Order’s knights and dwarves.”

“Yes. Almost all holy knights except for me and my direct subordinates were reportedly affected.”

The princess closed her eyes briefly at Kaal’s words.

Then Kara spoke again.

“It’s terrible to say, but facilities for modifying humans actually existed in the New Kingdom. I’ve already submitted evidence to the Magic Tower.”

“Unfortunately, that’s true. We have similar equipment at the Magic Tower. However, according to what she submitted, theirs was more advanced.”

“Could it be that the Magic Tower provided such technology behind the scenes?”

The head of the Alchemist Association said while looking at Lucian.

Of course, when Lucian looked directly back at him, he immediately averted his gaze.

Violet answered in Lucian’s place.

“We did not provide such technology. Human experimentation is strictly forbidden at the Magic Tower.”

“But according to the testimony and several documents, it seems difficult to accomplish without the Magic Tower’s assistance.”

The association head said, slightly lifting the stack of papers in front of him.

“The kidnappings in Ferarius, sightings in the Kingdom of Firenchena, and the testimony from that young lady just now. The Black Holy Knights are monsters created through human modification, and such technology…”

“If not created by an individual who invested an enormous amount of time, such technology would only exist in places like our Magic Tower.”

Violet said quietly.

“But the Magic Tower does not accept violations of its taboos. Just recently, Lucian had a similar issue because…”

“That’s enough on that topic.”

Lucian sighed with an expression suggesting a headache from some incident caused by the Magic Tower’s “Mad Dog.”

“In any case, the Magic Tower never provided such technology. They had no reason to request it from us anyway. They would have simply taken it.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Somnus was once one of the Masters of the Magic Tower.”

At the mention of Somnus, the temperature in the meeting hall seemed to drop.

It was because Kara had released a murderous aura.

“P-please calm down…”

“I’m sorry.”

Fortunately, Kara relaxed her expression and took a deep breath when Anna, who was beside her, tried to calm her.

‘Beatrice has grown.’

Lucian briefly thought that at least she was listening, unlike the once uncontrollable Beatrice, before clearing his throat and continuing.

“Excuse me. What I just mentioned is one of the Magic Tower’s shameful secrets. Somnus, who now serves in the New Kingdom’s religious order, was once a Master of the Magic Tower. And during his time as Master, he was conducting forbidden experiments behind our backs. We call him a madman at the Tower. …That aside, since he was once a Master, all of the Tower’s technology would have been leaked to him.”

“Then the Magic Tower is responsible for…”

“Fortunately, the experimental materials we kept were not leaked. According to our independent investigation, the necessary materials seem to have been gathered through various routes including requests to the Alchemist Association, Merchant Union, and Adventurer’s Guild.”

“So the Magic Tower was also a victim, just like us. It’s the Emiris Order that’s at fault.”

“Indeed, the Emiris Order is to blame. Yes.”

Lucian nearly gaped at the smooth change of stance from the heads of the Alchemist Association and Merchant Union.

So that’s the level of shamelessness needed to reach the top of such organizations.

“A-as a representative of the Guild, I offer my condolences.”

“There’s nothing to apologize for. It just means they operated in secret behind everyone’s backs.”

Lucian reassured Nina, the guild receptionist attending as the Guild’s proxy.

After listening for a while, Count Metis quietly spoke up.

“I don’t think we need to discuss the Order’s wrongdoings any further.”

Everyone’s attention turned to the Count at this sudden statement.

The Count continued with a serious expression.

“Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying they aren’t evil. I just think proving that they operated insidiously and secretly isn’t worth further discussion.”

After looking at everyone’s faces, Count Metis continued.

“Probably everyone here has either been harmed in some way or unwittingly aided them. So discussing their evil deeds further would be a waste of time. What’s important now is something else.”

“Why they did what they did, correct?”

Count Metis nodded at Violet’s comment.

“Their actions are clear. They’re increasing their army. But according to the data, the Black Holy Knights don’t have long lifespans. So one might think they’re gathering forces to invade somewhere immediately, but…”

“For that purpose, they’re being too hasty and conspicuous.”

Princess Liriel narrowed her eyes as she continued.

“I’ve heard the New Kingdom’s regent is an old man with tremendous lust for power. Unfortunately, I’ve never spoken with him directly, but various circumstances and testimonies about his behavior reveal what kind of person he is.”

“Thinking simply, couldn’t he just want to expand his territory to further solidify his power?”

Lucian asked the princess.

After a moment’s consideration, the princess smiled slightly and said:

“Let’s drop the formalities and speak frankly here, shall we? I’ll just speak honestly?”

As if putting her words into practice, Princess Liriel began to lean back comfortably in her chair.

Some people were slightly taken aback by the sudden casual demeanor of the woman who had been sitting perfectly upright during the conversation until now.

However, Count Metis and her close aides didn’t seem to mind, as if they were used to it.

“Let me clarify first, I’m not saying I would do this myself. First… if the goal was simply territorial expansion, I can assert that the regent is acting too foolishly.”

“Why is that?”

“Because if that stupid old man is acting like this just to expand territory, it’s no different than betting everything on the Black Holy Knights, which is like a street child’s fantasy of driving a carriage off a bridge with no supports and expecting it to fly across to the other side.”

Lucian’s eyes wavered at the princess’s words.

“Even with the New Kingdom’s special background compared to other countries, a nation ultimately moves by the loyalty of its subjects and the hearts of its people. Openly kidnapping people? Who would remain loyal to a country that openly kidnaps people and turns them into monsters? There’s no future in it. The country loses its foundation. If they really wanted to do this, they should at least quietly gather people whom no one would miss, send them to a remote location, and prepare soldiers there quietly.”

Ah, let me clarify again that I’m not saying I would do this? Princess Liriel added.

“And if it were me, I would then recruit forces in the traditional way. Of course, it would be for war, but in reality, it would be a cover to hide the existence of the Black Holy Knights. I believe it’s better to keep a new weapon hidden from enemy countries until the crucial moment it’s needed. And there would be situations in war where you could win sufficiently without the Black Holy Knights. As the battle drags on, there would be wounded soldiers, and if necessary… ahem.”

Princess Liriel apologized with a smile, suggesting she had slightly misspoken.

As Kaal subtly moved his chair to the side, the princess continued speaking.

“Anyway, you could try to win with regular troops while slowly inserting the Black Holy Knights into the gaps in your forces, preparing them for deployment. That way, you could effectively backstab at a critical moment, which I think would be more effective, don’t you agree?”

Princess Liriel said with a smile.

Another attendant asked her:

“If they’ll end up deploying those monsters anyway, wouldn’t it be a good idea to turn everyone into Black Holy Knights and deploy them all?”

“Considering the characteristics of Black Holy Knights, deploying them all at once before even starting isn’t a good idea.”

Princess Liriel said with a smile.

“Aren’t Black Holy Knights living on borrowed time? When you don’t know how long a war might last, if you create and deploy them all before it even starts, the enemy will have time to learn about the Black Holy Knights and respond accordingly. That increases the likelihood of the enemy dragging the war into a war of attrition. If the enemy succeeds in making it a war of attrition, the Black Holy Knights will just slowly die off for nothing.”

“Then we’d lose?”

“Their combat power is superior, so it might buy more time, but…”

Princess Liriel grinned as she spoke.

“But if things drag on longer than expected, that means the time you can use the Black Holy Knights decreases. While there’s a need to create some before starting, since you can’t know how long the war will stretch, it’s better to adjust the quantity as you go. Otherwise, the gap in combat power might become too large.”

The princess looked around and spoke quietly.

“I’d have to separately consider how much it costs to create those monsters compared to raising new recruits… While gathering various materials might be possible, the most important material—’humans’—is difficult to replenish, isn’t it? If you use them recklessly from the start, that creates gaps in your combat power, which could lead to major vulnerabilities. So you need to conserve them as much as possible and only deploy them at critical junctures. After all, if you can deploy them only at important moments, that’s enough to give you a significant advantage in war.”

Princess Liriel spoke scathingly.

“Unless that old man has dementia, he must know the disadvantages that are apparent even with limited information. Assuming he’s still in his right mind… perhaps he’s not just focused on war, but rather the war itself might be secondary?”

After organizing her thoughts, Princess Liriel straightened her back again and pulled out one of the documents.

It was about the Dragon Slayer who had been repelled in the Kingdom of Firenchena.

“If you’ll allow me to speculate, I think this might be the objective.”

“The Dragon Slayer?”

“The regent is an old man obsessed with power, and there are others with similar strong power in the New Kingdom.”

“Somnus and the Dragon Slayer.”

The princess nodded at Kara’s words.

“If he wants to wield absolute power in the New Kingdom, he must eliminate those two.”

“You’re saying he’s committing these atrocities to remove those two?”

The princess nodded at the Count’s words.

Soon another attendant widened his eyes and spoke:

“But that’s even stranger… it’s just two people. Is it necessary to kidnap people from across the entire country to increase numbers? Isn’t that excessive force?”

“Honestly, I think so too. But the fact is that the regent is creating many Black Holy Knights. If the purpose is to invade foreign countries, he’s being too obvious. News of the New Kingdom has surely reached other countries by now. It’s hard to believe that Anna and the people of her village are the only lucky survivors who escaped from across that country.”

The princess asserted that news must have reached neighboring countries as well.

After a moment of thought, the Count quietly looked at the princess and said:

“Despite knowing that news would spread to neighboring countries, the regent is moving so conspicuously—there must be a proportionate reason.”

“That part needs investigation. Thinking simply, it could be that the Dragon Slayer and Somnus are so powerful that he needs to reinforce his troops even more…”

Princess Liriel narrowed her eyes and said:

“Or perhaps there’s more to it. Those two might have a secret, and the regent has discovered it. To oppose them, he might need national-level power.”

“Such power would be…?”

“Who knows?”

Princess Liriel said in a light voice, but with cold eyes:

“Perhaps those two are heroes or gods?”

Count Metis and Kara widened their eyes.

The princess straightened her back nonchalantly and began emptying her teacup.